Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014 gives legislative effect to one of the social protection measures announced in the Budget Statement of 14 October 2014 which are due to take effect from 1 January 2015, for example, the increase in the monthly rate of child benefit. This Bill also provides for the retention of the weekly earnings disregard for recipients of one parent family payment at its current level of €90 and the draw down of moneys from the Central Fund by the Minister for Finance for making payments to approved persons in order to discharge the liabilities of an eligible pension scheme. Section 1 provides for the definition of common terms that are used for the purposes of the Bill. The term "Principal Act" means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and the term "Act of 2012" means the Social Welfare Act 2012.
As the Minister of State said in his statement, section 2 provides for a €5 increase in the monthly rate of child benefit bringing the current rate from €130 to €135 with effect from 1 January 2015. This section also provides that in the case of twins, the monthly rate of child benefit will increase from €195 per child to €202.50 per child, while in the case of multiple births of three or more children, the monthly rate of child benefit will increase from €260 per child to €270 per child with effect from 1 January 2015. I am not too sure how often that will happen but it is nice to provide for it.
Section 4 enables the Minister for Finance to draw down moneys from the Central Fund to discharge liabilities which may accrue to the State in the event of the wind up of a defined benefit pension scheme in particular circumstances. These circumstances arise where both the employer and the scheme are insolvent, which is often referred to as a double insolvency; the date of the wind up of the scheme was on or after 25 January 2007, which is the date on which a ruling was given by the European Court of Justice in the UK case of Carol Marilyn Robins and Others v.Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and before 25 December 2013, which is the date on which the changes provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2013 were enacted; and the resources in the scheme are not sufficient to fund a minimum level of benefits. Section 5 provides for the short title and construction of the Bill and for collective citations.
The increase in the monthly rate of child benefit, which has already been referred to by the Minister of State and previous colleagues and which is provided for in section 2 of the Bill, will cost €72 million in 2015.The retention of the weekly earnings disregard applying to recipients of one parent family payment, as provided for in section 3 of the Bill, will cost €8 million in 2015.
Budget 2015 provided for a number of social protection measures, some of which relate to statutory schemes and which need to be implemented by way of legislative amendment, while other measures relate to non-statutory schemes and do not require any legislative change. Of the various social protection measures announced in budget 2015, four of these measures relate to statutory social welfare payments and will need to be implemented by way of legislative amendment. Two of these measures - the increase in the living alone allowance which is effective from the beginning of January 2015 and the payment of a Christmas bonus, which has already been referred to by the Minister of State and other colleagues - must be addressed. Two of these measures can be legislated for by way of regulation and the necessary Regulations have been made by the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection. The other two legislative measures require amendments to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.
In addition to the increase in the monthly rate of child benefit being provided for in this Bill, budget 2015 also announced the introduction of a new back to work family dividend to provide an additional incentive for families to move from welfare to work, which is most welcome. I understand that the necessary administrative and technical details of this dividend are currently being developed but will not be finalised in time for inclusion in this Bill. The required legislative amendments for this dividend will be provided for in a further social welfare Bill to be introduced early in 2015 with a view to its enactment by the end of March 2015. While the dividend will come into operation in early April 2015, it is worth noting that payment of the dividend will be back-dated to the beginning of January in the case of families taking up employment after that date. The other social protection measures which were announced in budget 2015 relate to non-statutory schemes and do not require any legislative amendments.
I will conclude with the question of social welfare tourism. How extensive is it? Have we curtailed what was at one stage a significant issue for us? Have we eliminated it? Are there any savings we have made? Does it still happen? Coming from a Border county, I would ask myself whether there was anybody coming to the South via Belfast.

I am not saying they are not entitled to claim, but when people can leave it for a month or two, I am not sure they need it. The same goes for those who fly in from far-off places to claim it.

I welcome the Bill and wish the Minister of State every success.